Anyone can look up a Tarot card meaning and give a Tarot reading. But it takes an experienced Tarot reader to tell the ‘story’ in the cards.
Today’s Ask Brigit question is from Liza – one of just many people who have written to me over the years to ask about how to tell the story in the Tarot cards. She writes:
“My main struggle is linking the cards to tell a story. I know what all the cards mean but putting them together to make sense is hard. What’s more, surrounding cards can amplify or detract from the meaning. How do you link the Tarot cards in a reading?”
Watch the video to find out my answer:
http://youtu.be/nM31E0ttzG
If you loved this Tarot topic, you’ll find even more Tarot love at My Tarot Clubtarot.com. You can also sign up for my free Tarot tutorials and weekly newsletter to help you become a more confident Tarot reader.
And if you loved this video, click Like and subscribe to my YouTube channel for even more great Tarot videos.
Remember, you CAN transform your life and others’ with Tarot so keep your passion alive.
Thank-you for watching and I’ll see you next time.
After you’ve watched the video, I’d love to hear your own techniques and strategies for telling the story in a Tarot reading. Leave your comments below.
Video Transcript:
Hi, I’m Brigit, Founder of My Tarot Club – the place to be if you’re an aspiring Tarot reader and you want to transform your life and others’ with Tarot.
And this is a special Ask Brigit video post where I answer your questions about the Tarot.
Today’s question comes from Liza. She asks:
“My main struggle is linking the cards to tell a story. I know what all the cards mean but putting them together to make sense is hard. What’s more, surrounding cards can amplify or detract from the meaning. How do you link the Tarot cards in a reading?”
Great question, Liza.
When you start learning Tarot, you typically learn to read one card at a time in a reading. This is fine as a beginner but if you want to take your Tarot readings to the next level, you need to learn how to tell the story in the Tarot cards.
It’s all about creating links. Links between Tarot cards and links between the positions in the Tarot spread.
Let’s start with links between Tarot cards.
Look for patterns in the numbers of the cards, suits, Major and Minor Arcana cards, symbols and themes. For example, you may see three Fours in the reading – a sign of establishing a firm foundation. Or you may see more Cups cards – a sign of an emotional situation.
Also look for flow between the cards. How does the imagery change and evolve between cards? For example, the hand in the Ace of Pentacles is holding a coin. If the next card was the Two of Wands, that coin has turned into a globe. Could it be a sign of manifesting a dream to travel?
So always be on the lookout for how the Tarot cards link with each other.
The second technique is to look at the links between the positions in the spread. Of course, it will depend on what spread you’re using. In the Celtic Cross, for example, look at the story across the past, present and future cards, or the above, present and below cards.
Of course, it’s easy to get carried away with all of the linkages you see in the cards. Sometimes links can be interesting but not very meaningful. Focus only on those linkages that give you meaningful insight.
I hope that helps, Liza.
Over to you. What’s your advice? How do you create the story in your Tarot readings? Leave your comments below.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello!
Sometimes, as soon I see the pictures on the cards as they are laid out, it’s like something tells me what does it all mean without even checking the card meanings! (as I’m a beginner). However, just to be sure, I do wait until I’ve seen and interpreted all cards on the spread separately and then everything makes sense and the story builds itself. I can create the whole picture for the asker.
Sometimes I believe these cards “talk to me”… it’s quite interesting.
Beautiful! Yes, I often have the cards ‘talk to me’ too – a lovely feeling.
For Liza and anyone else who is trying to learn to connect the cards, here’s one method I have used.
Start without any sort of question at all. This is practice, not a reading. Just shuffle up the cards to get them mixed well. Imagine a character you can tell a story about. I don’t care if you are imagining John Smith, a pirate captain from 1863 or an animated teddy bear named Muff. Pick a character to star in a very short story.
Take the top three cards and lay them on the table. You are not giving a reading! Don’t try to give a reading! You now have the task of telling a story. Those cards will serve as inspiration for your story, noting the starting point, the major change of events, and the end. You do not get to look up the meanings of cards you have forgotten! Go with your gut. This is play time, not readings.
Use a timer. Set it for five minutes. You really only need about two minutes when you get going, but at first you may struggle to find the words and need to take a little extra time. But you have to tell the whole story in five minutes or less.
This is key: tell the story out loud. In a regular conversational tone of voice, like telling a story to a friend or a child. And you don’t get to go back and rephrase things. You may pause, think for a moment, or even say “I need to say that differently” and then rephrase, but when you are talking to yourself, it is really easy to say the same line five times in slightly different ways and that only serves to keep you in one place, not to advance the story.
Now, put those three cards aside and do it again with the next three. Repeat for as long as you can stand it (like for half an hour or so) and do it every day or so for at least a week. If you are not seeing connections between cards at the end of a week, your imagination works completely differently from mine.
The goal here is just to use random cards to generate stories. They can be silly, tragic, comic, serious, or nonsensical. But every card you deal needs to be either the start, the turning point, or the completion of a story. Don’t bother writing them down at this point. You are trying to connect your intuitive right brain with your logical left brain in meaningful patterns. When you can tell a story in six sentences that makes sense and has a start, middle, and end, try doing a reading or two and see how those cards come together for you.
By the way, one of my favorite ways to practice simple readings is to dig out Dear Abby (or similar agony columns from whatever newspaper you read) and read the question, then do a reading on the question before I read the answer. Sometimes I think Abby nails it, sometimes I think I do, sometimes I wonder whether either of us would have been any help to the querant.
-Patrick
Wonderful – thanks so much for sharing.
This wasn’t my question but for sure it was my answer! I have tried many times to get the stories better, amazing help to try this than you.
This is fantastic Patrick, Thank you for sharing this I am going to try this way I struggle with the story part in Tarot so this will be interesting to try out
Blessings to you
How to tell a story when the cards have really positive threads (e.g.6 of wands, ) then a very negative last card like the 3 of swords falls in the outcome position…ethics would pull me to stick to the outcome cards as the theme or link …i.e. indicates a high price to pay for success? any suggsestions?
It’s hard to comment without the full context of the reading (i.e. cards drawn, question asked, etc.). The thing to remember is that every card has light and shade (see https://My Tarot Clubtarot.com/good-cards-bad-cards/) and even those cards we think are amazingly good can also have their darker side (and vice versa). So it may be appropriate to look at the light and shade of a reading in this way also.
Tarot reading is not a new art and yet, many people are afraid of trying it out.
Yes Paulo you do get many people afraid, I myself have giving Tarot readings to people who don’t and never have believed then come away at the end of the reading amazed at the outcome